Spring is sprung!

School is out this week, so that changes the storytime dynamics a bit. I missed some of the regular attendees (who probably went to Disneyland or something), but was glad to see some old friends who are usually in school. So it all evened out.

Spring is one of my favorite times of year, because in spring we can sing "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree." If you don't know this song, look for it on Youtube---you'll find lots of little videos of it. It's a fun song with plenty of hand motions.

Our spring books today were Fletcher and the Springtime Blossoms (Fletcher the fox mistakes falling petals for snow) and Cold Little Duck, Duck, Duck. We sang Popcorn Popping, Where is Thumbkin, Put Your Finger in the Air, and When the Spring Comes Rolling In.  This is my version, sung to the tune of When the Saints Go Marching In:

Oh, when the spring comes rolling in,
Oh, when the spring comes rolling in.
All the bees will start a-buzzing,
Oh, when the spring comes rolling in.

Oh, when the spring comes rolling in
Oh, when the spring comes rolling in.
All the trees will be a-blooming
Oh, when the spring comes rolling in.

Oh, when the spring comes rolling in
Oh, when the spring comes rolling in
 Oh, the rain will start a-falling,
Oh, when the spring comes rolling in.

Have the kids roll their arms around while singing "when the spring comes rolling in," and use other matching gestures for the third line. I asked for suggestions from the kids, and we added "the butterflies will start a-flitting." Think of all the other verses you could add: grass a-growing, sun a-shining, or bunnies a-hopping. 

Our craft was almond blossom pictures. The trees were cut from paper grocery bags. I got 20 trees out of two bags. Glue your tree onto a 8.5 x 11 piece of construction paper, then add more glue on the branches to stick the blossoms to.

The pink and white blossoms are little square of tissue paper. One mom came up with a cute and easy way to attach these. I was just crumpling the paper and sticking it on the glue. She wrapped the paper around the eraser end of a pencil, and used that to stick down the blossom. This method made the blossoms look more like flowers, and less like crumpled up bits of paper. And there you have an easy springtime picture!